The Gold Rush For South America’s Minerals Triggers Worries Over Water

“Water is more precious than gold,” is the battle cry being raised throughout Latin America by anti-mining groups that include rural peasants, ecologists and scientists. Together they complain of the negative environmental and social impacts caused by open-pit mines, which make heavy use of explosives, cyanide and fresh water. La Alumbrera consumes between 60 and 100 million liters of water per day
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2012/the-stream/the-stream-march-13-the-gold-rush-for-south-americas-minerals-triggers-worries-over-water/